


Supernatural, Season 8, Episode 8, Hunteri Heroici

by TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Analysis, Episode Review, Episode: s08e08 Hunteri Heroici, Meta, Nonfiction, Season/Series 08, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23319706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer/pseuds/TheSomewhatRamblingReviewer
Summary: Warning: Contains spoilers for the episode and later seasons. Complete.





	Supernatural, Season 8, Episode 8, Hunteri Heroici

Open to a man and a woman meeting in a park. He says he wasn’t sure she’d show after what happened last time, and she says she wasn’t sure, either. Then, she hears his heart beating, and it soon explodes.

Well, I’d say, at least, she didn’t break it, but upon further reflection, someone might have been able to sew or bandage it together if she had.

Meanwhile, the brothers are at a gas station. Sam is talking to Ms Tran, and Dean opens two bottles of what I hope isn’t anything alcoholic.

Sam pawns the phone off on Dean. Promptly hanging up, Dean explains they’ll just claim it was a tunnel. He asks about the Trans, and Sam explains Garth has them on his safe houseboat but Kevin isn’t having much luck reading the half of the angel tablet.

Dean is incredulous about Garth having a safe houseboat.

“Dude, I don’t even ask questions, anymore,” Sam replies.

I don’t know whether this makes me strange or not, but having a safe houseboat strikes me as rather reasonable.

It turns out Cas is around, and Dean asks, “What’s the word, Cas?”

“It’s a shortened version of my name,” Cas answers.

Dean is patient. “Yes, it is. I meant, what’s the word on the word? Any, uh, tablet chatter on Angel radio?”

Cas doesn’t know. He’s cut himself off. Sam is curious about how Cas is able to do so, and Cas offers to draw him a diagram. Nixing this, Dean asks why Cas flipped off the switch.

He explains he doesn’t want anything to do with heaven. Dean makes a sarcastic remark about opening a charming bed-and-breakfast in Vermont, and as someone pointed out, Vermont was the first U.S. state to make marriage equality a reality. Cas explains he still wants and needs to help people, and therefore, he’s now their new hunting buddy. He happily declares himself a third wheel.

Dean says being a third wheel is not a good a thing, and I think what he’s saying is Cas wouldn’t be their annoying tagalong; he’d be a valued friend and more-or-less equal partner.

However, Castiel’s response is to explain why third wheels are literally a good thing. Continuing, he explains about the man from the teaser. He starts to leave, but Dean makes it clear, if he’s going to work with them, he’s going to stay near Dean. And Sam, but mostly Dean.

Agreeing, he asks if he can ride in the front seat.

Frankly, I wish they’d let him drive, because, I still can’t make out exactly what they drank. However, the answer’s no.

At the morgue, a detective informs them some people think it was drugs, and Cas whispers to Dean it wasn’t. Her phone rings, and Dean gives her a card. For some reason, she calls him, “Agent Scully.”

His alias for this episode is Agent Crosby. Obviously, she just made an X-File reference, but it doesn’t make any sense. Dean hasn’t done anything to show either belief or scepticism, and usually, when a person addresses another by the name Mulder or Scully, they match the agent’s gender to the person’s, regardless of whether it fits personality or not.

After she leaves, Cas sniffs the body. He declares the man was in perfect health aside from a mild bladder infection.

“Cas, stop smelling the dead guy,” Dean orders. Heh.

Looking at the report, Sam concludes the man and woman, Olivia, from earlier were having an affair based on her statement and the fact the place she claimed they had lunch at was attached to a motel. The brothers think his wife is a witch who killed him due to finding out about the affair.

When Dean and Cas leave, Sam has a flashback to Amelia.

I saw this episode before I saw earlier ones in the season, and I liked Amelia. Then, I came across the episode where she guilted a person who neither wanted nor had the means to take care of a dog into adopting one. Such behaviour is unacceptable for people in general, but it’s especially so when it comes to a veterinarian.

She’s worried about her father disapproving of her living with a man she just recently met, and he assures her they’re not moving too fast.

Personally, I believe romantically living with or marrying a person someone hasn’t known for _years_ is generally a bad idea, but I definitely would recommend the former over the latter when it comes to newish relationships.

Her father knocks, and she gives Sam some last minute instructions: No political talk, no trashing the Cowboys (I'm assuming this is a sports team, but don't quote me), and don’t utter the words ‘moist’ or ‘irregardless’. I don’t care about ‘moist’, but if he should use the latter, he will have an angry reviewer babble out a paragraph or more in response.

Her dad, Stan, comes in, and he immediately dotes on his daughter and the dog whilst being passive-aggressive towards Sam. When she goes to get him something to drink, Sam tries to cut to the heart of the matter, but Stan asks what Sam does. Then, he says a Stanford boy who’s working maintenance at a motel is a fix-upper. He implies Amelia’s only with Sam, because, focusing on helping someone else get their life together and deal with their pain is preferable to dealing with her own issues and working on undergoing healing herself.

Ouch. He may or may not be right, but either way: Ouch.

Back in the present, at the widow’s house, Dean explains the FBI is involved due to the park being public property. He starts to ask questions, but Cas decides to take over, and it’s a wonder the widow doesn’t chase them out with her shoes. Thankfully, Dean pulls him aside, although, he doesn’t do it quick enough.

Cas says he was playing bad cop. Dean retorts, “No, you were being bad everything.”

Sam says, “Please, forgive my partner. He’s, uh, he’s going through some stuff.”

Olivia shows up to reveal herself a friend of the widow’s, and Cas comments to Dean, “This is awkward.” Then, he accuses the dead husband and Olivia of having an affair.

Actually, the widow and her husband had an open relationship. She knew he was sleeping with Olivia and didn’t care. The women go to put some food Olivia brought up, and Dean declares her the best wife ever. Then, he makes it clear he doesn’t care who killed the husband since it wasn’t her.

Huh? Something supernatural still killed him.

Elsewhere, a man walks off a building. He finds himself suspended in mid-air. He thinks it’s a sign from God, but he falls a few seconds later.

Next, the detective from earlier has called. It’s revealed the victim lost everything when Roman industries went down.

She wanders away, and Dean mentions Bugs Bunny. Cas wants to know how to kill an insect-rabbit hybrid, and they try and mostly fail at explaining the humour of cartoons.

Later, Cas is watching said cartoons, and it could be they found a channel airing them, but there’s also the possibility one of them actually went out and rented a movie/DVD for him. He assigns religious allegory to the cartoon, and they mostly ignore him. It’s established they’ve yet to find a link between the victims.

Cas starts going through their bags, and it’s kind of sweet how they both couldn’t care less. Announcing he’s going to bed, Dean asks if Cas is going to book a room.

It’s worth noting, they’d probably be paying for.

As an angel, he doesn’t need sleep, and he declares he’ll watch over Dean.

Dean has a genuine smile when he insists Cas won’t.

Before anything can be decided, Cas tunes into the police radio via his head.

Going to a bank, they find a literal anvil has been dropped on someone. Appearing, the detective asks if they chase the crazy or the crazy chases them.

“Depends on the day,” Sam answers.

There’s a black hole on the wall near the vault, and the detective explains someone’s been breaking in and leaving those as a calling card. Sam gets her to take him to the police station so that he can look at the files on the other break-ins, and Dean gets Cas to move the anvil. He explains some of the rules of cartoons: A pretty girl can make a heart jump out of the chest, people can go through black holes, and x marks the spot for anvils.

Later, in the hotel, Cas is going through John’s journal. He makes a comment about how beautiful his handwriting is. Dean takes this as an opening to ask how Cas is doing post-purgatory. Cas claims to be doing fine, and Dean stresses, “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy you’re back. I’m freakin’ thrilled. It’s just this whole mysterious-resurrection thing- It always has one mother of a downside.”

Cas refuses to engage, and Dean tries to gently coax him. Cas yells. Not upset but knowing he just got the advantage, because, some part of him knows, whether Cas opened purgatory or not, his approval, happiness, and well-being is important to Cas, Dean closes the computer, goes to sit down on the other bed, and simply says, “Talk to me.”

Doing so, Cas explains how, aside from killing tons of humans, he killed thousands of angels. This causes Dean to come to the realisation Cas’s safety might be in danger if he returns, but it turns out, Cas isn’t afraid of his brethren killing him.

Rather, he’s borderline suicidal. He can’t fix what he’s done in Heaven, and if he sees the damage up close, there’s a good chance he’ll kill himself.

I feel sorry for Dean here. He’s happy Cas is back and will do whatever he can, but it’s never a good thing to be someone’s therapy. Not only do he and Sam forgive Cas, not only have they regained their trust for him, not only do they want him around, but the damage he did to them is more-or-less fixed. He might not be able to fix all the other lives he’s destroyed, but they’re proof not everyone touched by his actions will always have to carry the damage.

But what if this isn’t enough? How is Dean and, if he tells Sam, Sam, supposed to make sure they’re enough? If Cas has a really bad day, he could be some place unknown and inaccessible before they even realised he was having it. He could literally vanish one day, and they’d die not knowing what happened to him.

Carrying this sort of baggage around is another thing neither he nor Sam need.

Before Dean can figure out how to respond, Sam comes back. There have been several robberies, and each time, everyone within fifty feet suffered cartoon reality. It turns out every place hit has also had a connection to someone who’s living at a retirement home.

“All right. Well, let’s gear up. It’s wabbit season,” Dean declares.

Nicely, Cas informs him, “I don’t think you pronounced that correctly.”

At the nursing home, they get permission to talk to the residents, and he and Cas talk to an old woman who mistakes Cas for a previous husband. She claims a cat that one of the residents is petting sometimes talks, and Cas earnestly decares he’ll interrogate it. Dean lets him go with wordless exasperation and fondness. He doesn’t seem to realise Cas being able to hear flowers does point to him possibly being able to do such a thing.

Meanwhile, Sam talks to an aide about one of the catatonic residents.

He has another flashback. Amelia has made spaghetti and hotdogs. This is a tradition she and her father have always had. It’s also one Sam knew nothing about.

This might be construed as further proof its way too early for them to be living together.

Sam talks about John being in the marines, and Stan declares he’s always thought they were a little puffed-up.

Does he know John is dead? Because, whatever mistake he thinks his daughter is making, it’s not cool to insult a person’s dead parents.

Amelia goes to get stuff from the kitchen, and Stan says he finds it hard to believe Sam never served due to Sam having a look about him. He continues some people go through hell, and once they get out, they never stop running until they find someone, like, say, his daughter, to hold onto. He gets to the crux of the matter: He thinks Amelia and Sam are both running away from their issues and holding onto one another, because, it makes hiding easier. He knows what’s up with his daughter, but he doesn’t know what’s up with Sam, and as a parent, he needs to know whether to let his daughter make her own mistakes or forcibly drag her out of the metaphorical road before the speeding car knocks her down.

Back in the present, Sam and Dean discover one of the residents is a psychokinetic buddy of John’s. They call Cas. He insists he’s almost cracked the cat.

“Now,” Dean insists.

With one last warning, Cas follows.

“Dumbass,” the cat retorts. Hah!

The trio finds the resident Fred Jones him watching cartoons and oblivious to their presence. Mike Farrell plays him.

On another note, Farrell played Dr James Hansen on an awesome show called Providence. He also, and I’m ashamed of myself for not realising this until I was reading his IMDb page, played B.J. Hunnicut on M*A*S*H.

Back to the review, turning the TV off doesn’t help. Dean smacks himself with a book to see if Fred’s the guy. He hears tweets of the bird variety.

Cas hesitantly asks if they should kill Fred, and of course, this is when the director shows up. He reasonably takes exception to a death threat against a resident.

As they’re leaving, Cas says he could transport Fred away, and Sam says no. He explains they have no idea if it’d be safe for either of them due to Fred’s powers. Dean tells him to go into invisible mod and watch Fred until they come back at night.

Without a word, Cas disappears.

There’s a scene of one of the residents having a birthday party, and Fred makes the cake explode.

The brothers arrive, and they realise Fred is missing. Then, when an aide is trying to wheel the older woman away and get them out, the woman tells Cas, “Charles, she’s wearing my bracelet.” Cas demands to know where the aide got the bracelet, and she says her boyfriend gave it to her.

They go to find her boyfriend. He’s the aide from earlier, and he’s been shot. At Dean’s order, Cas heals him. He explains the director has been stealing from the residents for years. After finding out about Fred’s gifts, he started using him.

There’s a shot of Fred being driven as he watches cartoons on a tablet.

Then, the aide continues that the director tried to kill him after snapping. He’s planning to do one last heist.

Leaving, the trio discusses whether Fred even knows what’s going on or not.

Then, it’s flashback time. Sam listens to Stan and Amelia argue. Stan wants his daughter to come back home, and Amelia insists she’s happy with the life she’s making. “Let us be messes together. Give us a chance.”

This goes against Stan’s instincts, because, there could be aforementioned metaphorical speeding car, but there’s a saying about how a person has to want to be saved. Even if he gets her away from Sam, there’s no guarantee she won’t just find a different road to stand in the middle of. He just has to desperately hope, if a car is coming towards her, she’ll run fast enough to escape or the driver will manage to miss her.

He goes to help Sam with the dishes.

Back in the present, Dean sends them to find Fred while he deals with the black hole and the director.

They find Fred, and he’s still as unresponsive as ever.

Despite Sam’s protests, Cas transports both of them into Fred’s mind.

Inside, Fred wants to know who they are and what they’re doing in his mind. Sam introduces himself as John’s son. Cas is given no introduction.

At the bank, Dean greets the director with, “What’s up, doc?”

I don’t think he was able to help himself, and I find this completely understandable.

In Fred’s mind, he doesn’t believe Sam, and when he starts to, he goes on about it sucks to lose one’s mind, especially when one’s mind has a link to the supernatural.

Weirdly, the show seems to be trying to do a parallel between Fred living in his own mind and what Sam did with Amelia, but I’m not seeing it. Older people sometimes literally can’t help but live in their own heads.

Meanwhile, the director offers Dean half if Dean lets him go. Dean isn’t down with robbing old people, and the director insists he’s robbing their families. He goes on a rant about how some of them just drop the residents off and forget all about them.

Okay, I’m certainly not denying he has a point, but I’m also really not seeing how robbing them does anyone but him any good. I’m sure most of them have insurance, and even if they don’t, what’s the lesson? Keep this person they resent around and abuse/neglect them rather than putting them somewhere where there’s a chance of them being taken proper care of?

Plus, I sincerely doubt he’s only going after the stuff of neglectful families.

The director starts to leave, and Dean tries to shoot him. The director is human, isn’t attacking Dean, and doesn’t have a weapon drawn, and so, therefore, a tackle or kick would be more appropriate. It would also be more effective due to the fact the gun shoots out a bang sign.

Back in Fred’s mind, there’s a further attempt at parallel as Fred explains cartoons have always been something to hold onto.

Sam had emotional issues, but he was fully in control of his thoughts and actions. He was sane. Fred is old, and his mind is reacting to the things oldness sometimes brings. There’s a difference between an old person retreating into their own head and a person who’s had a hard knock life and lost every family member they have clinging to a romantic partner they may or may not truly be suited for. Namely, one is psychological, and the other is biological.

At the bank, Dean tackles the director. He gets an awesome title-card of **Dean Winchester (Hunterus Heroicus)**. Meanwhile, the director gets one of **Dr. Mahoney (Grotesques Villainus)**.

He hits Dean with a frying pan, and Dean tries to kill him with an anvil.

Still in Fred’s mind, Sam tries to get Fred to get control of the wacky effect he’s having on his surroundings. There’s a further attempt at parallel which simply doesn’t work for me.

Then, Fred, Sam, and Cas show up at the bank. Back to consciousness, Fred is controlling his powers. He forces the director to shoot himself. Then, he worries about the next time he retreats into his own mind.

Cas says there might be a way to make sure he doesn’t warp reality, again, but it’ll be painful and might destroy most of what makes Fred, Fred. Fred doesn’t like the idea, but showing being a hunter never truly leaves a person, his response is, “Well? What are you waiting for?”

After it’s done, Cas tells them with a gentle, happy smile that Fred is happily listening to Ode to Joy. Dean’s so proud that he declares Cas may ride in the front seat. This is news to Sam, but he keeps quiet.

However, Cas refuses. Then, he finds himself back with Naomi. She refuses to let him into Heaven.

He insists he needs to try to fix as much of the pain and suffering as he can.

She says he’s making things right by following orders, and he isn’t getting into heaven without her say so. He asks what he should do. Because she doesn’t have a need for him to kill heaven’s most adorable angel or for him to practise killing the love of his life at the moment, she asks him what he wants to do.

Back with the brothers, he says he wants to stick around Fred for a few days in order to make sure everything’s okay.

They both agree, but Dean wants to know what Cas is going to do afterwards. He’s worried and unhappy when Cas says he isn’t sure what he’s going to do but knows he can’t keep running.

There’s another flashback. Amelia, Stan, and Sam are all bonding. Then, Amelia gets a call about her husband being alive.

Well, I guess it’s good she and Sam just decided to live together instead of getting married.

Back in the present, the brothers leave, and with a soft, genuine smile on his face, Cas sits down next to a similar expression-faced Fred. They both listen to the music only they can hear. Aw.

Fin.


End file.
